I received my undergraduate degree (with honors) in Economics from Delhi University, my masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and my PhD in Social Work with a Graduate Certificate in New Institutional Social Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.
My research explores the political economy of development and the politics of institutional change in resource-dependent communities. Sponsored by grants from the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences and the Southern Asia Institute at Columbia University among others, I am exploring the impact of market-driven development strategies on livelihoods and social relations in semi-arid western India. My current work examines the interaction of development policy with local institutions to shape human well-being and sustainability.
I am also interested in democratic decentralization, its distributional consequences and impact on intra-community equity; and the transformation of civil society in the 21st century . South Asia is my regional focus, with additional interests in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the United States.
Recent News
-Summer 2012- I am presenting on the transformation of civil society in the context of democratization and market-expansion at the International Society for Third Sector Research Biennial conference in Siena, Italy, from 10-13 July.
- I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University starting in Fall 2011.